Call it a comeback from the internet’s fanfiction era. “Spicy” novels have many bookworms in love and lust. Whether you’re cringing at the idea of it or glued to your seat — or both — here’s all you need to know about the genre taking BookTok by storm: smut.
Erotica is on the rise. With an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends With Us” hitting theaters in August, more attention is falling onto her explored genre of risqué romance. The smut fad is far from novel, but it’s now being placed under a new, harsher light that subjects it to substantial scrutiny.
What is smut? According to WordPress, the genre includes any book with one or more “sexually explicit scenes”. It stretches from light, romantic stories to heavy, graphic stories, practically indistinguishable from straight-up porn.
Smut stories are often packed with tropes. Slow burn, enemies to lovers, and forbidden love are just a few classic tropes in a smut novel. These tropes make smut stories predictable and easy to jump into while building some of that gripping sexual tension that a story sometimes needs.
The smut umbrella includes a wide range of sub-genres. Smutty romance, for example, is driven by emotional relationships with some tasteful sex to spice things up. Like regular historical fiction, historical smut reimagines actual events and places from the past. Mystery and thriller smut take on darker themes of violence and crime, giving rise to shockingly popular tropes like “mafia smut,” another popular theme on BookTok.
Through TikTok, smut continues to carve its corner of the mainstream literary world. Avid readers and contemporary writers have been creating content and building a community, named “BookTok”, since 2020. While BookTok encompasses a plethora of genres not limited to smut , the online community fuels the fire for smut’s popularity.
“The BookTok community encompasses multiple genres and has content appealing to a wide range of audiences,” said one avid reader, who, out of respect for their privacy, this article will refer to as Emma. “Especially in the age of digital libraries, there are more opportunities for people to engage with the genre without feeling embarrassed.”
Creators who are open about the kind of dirty novels they read help to normalize the genre. They promote books that reveal unconventional sexual dynamics, represent queer stories, and appeal to the female gaze. On one hand, they’re breaking down the stigma around sexual content. On the other, they are breaking down the stigmatized barrier, which makes people feel embarrassed or ashamed to read smut.
“A lot of smutty novels in the past were relegated to lonely romantics,” Emma said. “But as society and the genre have evolved parallel to one another, smutty novels have taken on a more public feature.”
“Of Fire and Stars” by Audrey Coulthurst, for example, is a fantasy romance with two female love interests. In contrast, “Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston is more of a realistic, political drama involving two male love interests. These books have been acclaimed on BookTok, especially by the LGBTQ+ community.
Many smut books nowadays are written by women, for women. They tell the stories of women who get to live out romantic and sexual fantasies; these novels have opened the door for female authors to be open and vulnerable about sexual experiences.
The openness of today’s smut novels doesn’t come without criticism. Critics have accused authors like Colleen Hoover of glorifying domestic violence with books centered around abusive relationships. Her books “It Ends With Us,” and “Ugly Love” both feature female protagonists who endure abuse from their male love interests. And that’s just scratching the surface, not to mention other popular smut books that explore dark sexual fantasies.
The men in these darker smut books are often brooding and toxic, with complicated pasts. Ana Huang’s “Twisted” series is another example of this trope, with an added element of the hyper-masculine “alpha” male. It’s up to the critical reader to discern whether these relationship dynamics should be romanticized or read cautiously.
For some, smut is meant to be an easy-reading genre. These are the kind of books for the beach or an airport, not requiring much thought.
“Smut books are the fast food of books,” one student said wo we will refer to as Bea. “They are easy to consume and enjoyable and entertaining to read, so they are very popular.”
While they may lack depth in certain areas, smut books don’t need to be looked at too critically, according to Bea.
“It does get a bad rap because people assume the people reading smut are dumb or aren’t reading real books,” she said. “Reading smut is great, but I don’t think that should be the only thing you read; there’s so much more out there.”
The students in this article both like books that are more than a sum of their sex scenes. Regarding her favorites, Bea said she is a fan of Ali Hazelwood, who writes books about women in STEM. She also recommends “Verity” by Colleen Hoover. Emma’s favorites are “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas and the “Fourth Wing” series by Rebecca Yarros.
“While there is an appeal to smutty books that are just in it for the smut, there are a lot of novels out there which have a really engrossing plot,” Emma said. “The adult content is just a bonus to drive the narrative.”
Whether looking for a sweet escape from the mundane or just to kill time, dive into a diversion full of passion and romance.
Reading Recs
A few more steamy reads that are great for a first foray into the world of smut
- The Deal by Elle Kennedy
- Twisted Games by Ana Huang
- Mile High by Liz Tomforde
- Breakaway by Grace Riley
- Consider Me by Becka Mack
- Say You Swear by Megan Brandy
- Addicted to Him by Monica Murphy
words_jay moyer. illustration&design_sovannreach po.
This article was published in Distraction’s Fall 2024 print issue.
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